Studio Ramsay hires C4’s Cooke

Studio Ramsay, the production outfit from celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay, has appointed a Channel 4 (C4) editor as its head of popular factual.

Helen Cooke

Helen Cooke, who will join the All3Media joint venture later this month, will be tasked with developing formats and factual entertainment projects across all platforms for the UK and the US.

Working with chief creative officer Chris Brogden and the London-based development team, she will look to build on the company’s formats slate.

Cooke joins after two years at C4, where she started as a features commissioning executive before becoming features editor, commissioning Rescue Dog to Super Dog and Peter Cook and Dudley Moore: The Missing Sketches.

While at the channel, she also oversaw returnable brands George Clarke’s Amazing Spaces, Shed of the Year, Obsessive Compulsive Cleaners, OCC Country House Rescue and OCC USA.

Prior to joining C4, Cooke was a commissioning editor at UKTV and freelance series producer at Betty for Obsessive Compulsive Cleaners. She also worked on brands such as The X Factor and The Only Way is Essex for ITV, before moving to Mentorn as an executive producer.

Cooke said: “I have had an amazing time at Channel 4 but the time has come to return to production, and working with Gordon and Chris at Studio Ramsay was too good an opportunity to miss. My core values make a great fit for their long-term strategy, and I look forward to winning business in popular factual.”

Studio Ramsay’s first production, live food variety show The F Word, will premiere on Fox in the US this year. The firm is also producing daytime cookery show Culinary Genius for UK commercial broadcaster ITV, plus primetime documentary series.

Ramsay has been working with All3Media since 2010. That year, the firm bought UK unscripted prodco Optomen, which has a joint venture in place with Ramsay called One Potato Two Potato.